2016 Nestbox News

This was somewhat of a depressing season for loyal Falcon Cam viewers. The new pair did produce an egg but failed to incubate it. We believe the male was lost during the beginning of the nesting season and was replaced by another non-banded male.

June 29

41/AX "Juliet" perched atop the cross on St. Anthony of Padua Church in downtown Jersey City. Shayna Marchese

The end of the 2016 season is here. We did all that we could to try and salvage the season. There has been so much uncertainty over the past two years. With the old male being lost, and then this new (unbanded male) being lost and replaced with another new (unbanded) male, we knew that this year would not be much of a productive one. But, we had high hopes in the beginning. At least we do know that the birds are still using this eyrie, which has also been a fear of ours.

We'd like to end on a more positive note, that is, with continued sightings of 41/AX in Jersey City. Shayna M. sent us the photo above and reported that she has been perched atop a cross on a local church in JC. It is good to know that this young female is still alive and well. The camera has been deactivated for the season and will come back online in early 2017. We hope to share some other recent sightings of alumni (offspring) from 101 Hudson St. in a few upcoming Nestbox News entries. Hopefully we will get another about Ivy, who has started to set roots in Toronto.

Thank you to everyone who has visited this page and supported this important educational initiative!

April 29: Moving On

With high hopes of salvaging this nesting season, today Kathy Clark visited 101 Hudson St. and removed the lone egg from the nestbox. We could tell that 41/AX would no longer incubate it after allowing it to sit there for some time. It is still a mystery as to telling what happened to the old unbanded male. But, there is a new male hanging around. Removing the egg will allow her to move on and accept the new male as her new mate. It will be interesting to see what plays out in the next couple weeks.

April 23, 2016: It’s a mystery

It’s been almost a week since Egg Number One appeared in the nest, thanks to 41/AX. Both adults were seen on camera on that day (Sunday, April 17), and the female spent a lot of time incubating and brooding in the first two days. According to peregrine falcon biology, she should have laid Egg 2 on Tuesday, and Egg 3 on Thursday, but none of that has happened. We don’t know why, but disruptions in the laying and incubating processes are usually the result of a shake-up in the pair. For example, if an intruding male or female challenges the pair for their territory, it could lead to injuries from fighting or colliding with structures. If such a fight occurred and the male (who was unbanded and therefore we don’t know his individual identity) lost, the winning male would take over the territory but might not help with the current nesting.

We do not know if this has happened in Jersey City, but the pair has been seen on camera only sporadically (Sunday, Wednesday, Friday). The female has not laid any more eggs nor taken care of the Egg 1; therefore the first and only egg is probably not viable anymore. Furthermore, we don’t know if there is a new male and, if so, they have some bonding to do before trying again. It’s a mystery for now, but we are still hoping for a positive outcome this season.

Previous male:

Zoom+ The new male at 101 Hudson St. is not banded, so we do not know his age or origins.

April 17: Finally, An Egg!

Finally, an egg!

It’s been a very long wait. In fact, we haven’t seen an egg on the Jersey City peregrine cam since 2014! In 2015, a new pair of falcons took up residence, and while they appeared to be mature birds, they did not lay any eggs last season. So we’ve been anxiously spying on these two birds, waiting and hoping, and even starting to doubt. But better late than not at all, and today really starts our nesting season in Jersey City. This is the first nesting attempt for these two newbies, and female 41/AX seemed to be rather enamored of her first egg. Peregrines do not begin incubating, though, until they have a full clutch of three or four eggs. No one should worry if the egg(s) are sitting there alone on the inside camera….we can be sure the adults are very close by and have total watch over their nest. On warmer days adults may not sit with and brood the eggs, but they will usually brood all night. We will be watching for egg number two on Tuesday, and each new egg roughly two days apart. Once incubation begins full time, it will continue for about 33 days leading up to hatching. Both adults will incubate the eggs, but the female usually spends more time on them. The Jersey City nest is getting a later start than previous years, and a little later than most NJ nests. NJ peregrines typically are laying eggs in the first week of April, and nearly all are incubating by mid-April. So this pair is about two weeks later than most. But there is no particular hurry: these birds have a ready supply of food (pigeons) for their offspring, so they are not dependent on peak migrations of their bird prey. We welcome the first egg of 2016, opening a new chapter for our Jersey City falcons!

January 25

Snow inside the nestbox showing falcon "tracks" after the blizzard on January 23rd.

The camera is working just fine but the stream is currently offline. We are investigating what is going on.

January 20

The pair was seen in and outside of the nestbox this morning! See a photo on BCAW (Bird Cams Around the World).

January 19

Cam is online! We are working with our partners to give you the best possible online viewing experience. We are testing out the feed (exterior view) in HDTV (sponsored) and standard feed (unsponsored). So the viewer has a choice. In other news, we are planning to visit Jersey City to fix the pinhole camera in early Feb.

January 12, 2016

Happy New Year, all! Exciting times ahead! Just this morning we called to re-activate the internet at 101 Hudson St. Technically speaking, the cameras should still be powered on and working fine. Once the internet is turned back on and we find out if we can acquire the same static IP address (what allows the live stream to be broadcast) then it's a simple copy and paste type of action to display the live stream on this page. If we need a new static IP (which we have in the past) then we will need to visit 101 Hudson St. to do some networking.

We will still make at least one trip up there to examine and test the pinhole camera that's inside the nestbox. We've had problems with that camera and want to be sure it is working fine this year.

Otherwise, we got this great video from Falcon Cam viewer Eric Chandler which shows the pair vocalizing to each other on the side of a building near 101 Hudson St. Peregrine falcons mate for life. In early spring the male performs aerial displays and he also provides the female with gifts to show his commitment to her - in the form of food. To help strengthen their relationship (pair bond) the male and female perform what is referred to as a "bowing" when they vocalize with a “ee-chupping” call which is seen in this short video.